Related papers: Comparison of Polarized Radiative Transfer Codes u…
Submillimeter interferometry has the potential to image supermassive black holes on event horizon scales, providing tests of the theory of general relativity and increasing our understanding of black hole accretion processes. The Event…
The first image of the black hole (BH) M87* obtained by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has the shape of a crescent extending from the E to WSW position angles, with a tentative 'ESE hotspot'. Assuming that the BH spin vector is aligned…
The observable quantities that carry the most information regarding the structures of the images of black holes in the interferometric observations with the Event Horizon Telescope are the closure phases along different baseline triangles.…
Although General Relativity (GR) has been tested extensively in the weak gravity regime, similar tests in the strong gravity regime are still missing. In this paper we explore the possibility to use X-ray spectropolarimetric observations of…
The remarkable results by the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration concerning the emission from M87* and, more recently, its polarization properties, require an increasingly accurate modeling of the plasma flows around the accreting black…
We present new calculations of X-ray polarization from black hole (BH) accretion disks in the thermally-dominated state, using a Monte-Carlo ray-tracing code in full general relativity. In contrast to many previously published studies, our…
Polarized general-relativistic radiative transfer in the vicinity of black holes and other compact objects has become a crucial tool for probing the properties of relativistic astrophysics plasmas. Instruments like GRAVITY, the Event…
Ongoing millimeter VLBI observations with the Event Horizon Telescope allow unprecedented study of the innermost portion of black hole accretion flows. Interpreting the observations requires relativistic, time-dependent physical modeling.…
In this thesis a computational tool for modelling spectral features of X-ray sources in a strong gravitational field is developed. Six transfer functions, the gravitational and Doppler shift, lensing, emission angle, relative time delay,…
The radio source Sgr A* in the Galactic center emits a polarized spectrum at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths that is strongly suggestive of relativistic disk accretion onto a massive black hole. We use the well-constrained mass of…
Self-consistent vertical structure models together with non-LTE radiative transfer should produce spectra from accretion disks around black holes which differ from multitemperature blackbodies at levels which may be observed. High…
X-ray polarisation measurement is a unique tool which may provide crucial information regarding the emission mechanism and the geometry of various astrophysical sources, like neutron stars, accreting black holes, pulsar wind nebulae, AGNs,…
The thermal radiative transfer (TRT) equations form an integro-differential system that describes the propagation and collisional interactions of photons. Computing accurate and efficient numerical solutions TRT are challenging for several…
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration recently released horizon-scale images of the supermassive black hole M87*. These images are consistently described by an optically thin, lensed accretion flow in the Kerr spacetime. General…
We describe a Monte Carlo radiative transport code intended for calculating spectra of hot, optically thin plasmas in full general relativity. The version we describe here is designed to model hot accretion flows in the Kerr metric and…
We use the public code ebhlight to carry out 3D radiative general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) simulations of accretion onto the supermassive black hole in M87. The simulations self-consistently evolve a frequency-dependent…
We present the implementation of an implicit-explicit (IMEX) Runge-Kutta numerical scheme for general relativistic hydrodynamics coupled to an optically thick radiation field in two existing GR-hydrodynamics codes. We argue that the…
Recent general relativistic magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of accretion onto black holes have shown that, contrary to the basic assumptions of the Novikov-Thorne model, there can be substantial magnetic stress throughout the…
We present a set of eleven two-temperature, radiative, general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (2TGRRMHD) simulations of the black hole M87* in the magnetically arrested (MAD) state, surveying different values of the black hole spin $a_*$.…
We present the results from a full polarization study carried out with ALMA during the first VLBI campaign, which was conducted in Apr 2017 in the $\lambda$3mm and $\lambda$1.3mm bands, in concert with the Global mm-VLBI Array (GMVA) and…